VIRUNDHOMBAL

When I want to prepare quick side dishes for our lunch, mostly it is plantain poriyal or roast with some spices. Anything made with plantains is easy to cook within 10 minutes. All you need is a handful of easily available ingredients in our kitchen.  The first step while making any plantain dishes (except plantain puttu) is to put the plantain pieces in water to avoid discoloration.  For most of the plantain dishes, the pieces should not be too thick or too thin. Don't overcook the plantains because the dishes will turn musshy.  In this recipe black pepper adds a nice flavour, so do not reduce the quantity. I have added two garlic cloves and if you are preparing this dish during the fasting period you can skip it. A handful of fresh coconut adds a mild sweetness to this curry. Stir fry the dish until the plantain is coated well with the coconut pepper mixture and small brown spots start appearing in the plantains.  Here is the link for Insta Reels for Raw Banan...

This is a simple home style kichadi or kothsu made with onions, tomatoes, potatoes and other basic ingredients. The recipe of this potato kichadi is an easy one pot dish and yet tastes so good. Nowadays, kichadis are excellent comfort food for the busy weekdays with different types of vegetables.  There are some most important tips to make the delicious kichadi to your taste. First of all, the kichadi needs to have the perfect texture. Usually for kichadi dishes we mash the cooked vegetables halfway leaving half of the vegetables in small chunks. This will give a perfect texture which is suitable for idli and dosa. But if you prefer a smooth consistency, you can blend it in a mixer jar or adding dals is an easy way to thicken the kichadi. In this recipe, we are using potato as it gives a creamy texture there is no need to add dals. For this kichadi a tablespoon of idli batter is added to make it thicker. Please do not add more than one tablespoon and also do not boil the kichadi lo...

Capsicum onion pakoda  is an easy tea time snack made using onions, capsicum, besan flour, rice flour, chilli powder and garlic. When we were in the US, I frequently prepared these pakodas with tri-colored capsicums as a starter for potluck parties. This pakoda tastes yum with our meals also.  To make onion capsicum pakoda, you need to cut them uniformly. You need to cut the onions and capsicums into slightly thicker pieces. Discard all the seeds and the thin white layer in the capsicums and then slice them equally. After slicing the onions and capsicums you are left with just mixing the flour, chilly powder, crushed garlic and frying it until crispy and golden. Now let's see how to make this onion capsicum pakoda with step by step pictures.  Check out my other Evening Snacks Recipes Vazhaikkai (Plantain) Bajji  Cauliflower Fry    Nullikai urundai - Urid dal balls Kara Vadai -  Pattani Paruppu (Yellow Split Peas) Bonda Sabudana Vada -  Javarisi Va...

Little millet payasam - Generally for millet dishes you don't need to spend hours and hours in your kitchen. From sweets to one pot dishes, millets require very less time when compared to other dishes. Today we are going to see a simple payasam with little millets which exactly takes just 30 minutes. It's made with little millet, jaggery, milk, cashew nuts and ghee.  There are two ways you can cook the millets. First one is pressure cooking the millets and the second one is cooking the millets directly in the vessel. To keep it simple, I have cooked the millets in the pressure cooker. Millet payasams could be made with any variety of milk as you like. I made it with full cream milk. You can also use skimmed milk, coconut milk or toned milk. All of these options result in creamy payasam. As this is a healthy dish, I prefer jaggery for this payasam. The plain white sugar also will taste good for this payasam. The final dish had a texture of thick payasam. If you want the payasam ...

Puli curry is a popular Nanjil kuzhambu recipe made with coconut red chilly small onion paste cooked in tamarind extract with the vegetables. After my 30 varieties of Nanjil articles in Aval vikatan, I love Nanjil foods very much. When I want to try new Nanjil dishes, I usually whatsapp with Raji Tamilselvi athai from Nagercoil. She taught me Yellow pumpkin eriseri, Nanjil sambar, Kadala theeyal, Vendakka pachadi and many Nanjil dishes.  The way of expressing the recipe details inspired me to try more Nanjil recipes. For every recipe, she teaches me with the exact ingredients, measurements, final dish appearance and the cooking time also. This recipe is also from her.  Today I am sharing how to make an authentic Nanjil Puli curry recipe made with drumstick and brinjal.  These are the main ingredients needed for this Puli curry.  Vegetables - you can use a mix of vegetables like drumstick, brinjal, lady's finger, yam, yellow pumpkin, seppankizhangu (Colocasia) for th...

Ash Gourd Mor Kuzhambu - an easy kuzhambu that's ready in 20 minutes. Different types of mor kuzhambu are a significant part of the Tamil Nadu and Kerala food culture. This ash gourd mor kuzhambu is one of the popular dishes in mor kuzhambu varieties.  How to make it 1. Cooking the ash gourd Start with cutting the ash gourd into cubes. We need to exert some energy to peel and slice if you are using a whole ash gourd. If you are using precut slices, just remove the seeds and slowly peel the outer skin and cut them into small cubes. Add some water and cook the ash gourds until soft. 2. How to prepare coconut paste  In the meantime, prepare the base mixture for the mor kuzhambu. This coconut paste is what is responsible for giving the particular colour and flavour to this kuzhambu. I will always suggest grinding it with fresh grated coconut. For this magic coconut paste you would require small onions, garlic cloves, ginger, green chilly, cumin, turmeric powder and soaked toor dal...

Vegetable ragi millet noodles recipe with step-by-step instructions. Recently I bought this ragi millet noodles from mothers millets brand in a supermarket. They have a wide range of millet noodles, red rice noodles and many more.  I haven't tried any millet noodles and this year is the international year of millets and I wanted to take this as a chance to cook and post different millet recipes to share with you all. I tried this ragi vegetable noodles with the colourful vegetables as we add it for our regular vegetable noodles. As it's my first time, I have added their tastemaker maker given in their pack. I haven't added any other sauces and masala powders. It came out really good and it can be prepared easily within 20 minutes.  Check out my other tiffin recipes here Idli Black urid dal Dosa Pearl Milet Dosa - Kambu Dosa Aapam - Aapam without yeast  Ragi flour Upma Arisi Upma Poori Bottlegourd Adai Pepper dosa - Milagu Adai Rava Upma Semiya Upma   Rava Dosa V...